Strengthen collaboration for effective natural resource management — Landscape Forum

Speakers at a national landscape forum have called for stronger partnerships among stakeholders to harness the country’s natural resource capital for sustainable development.

The speakers, who included experts in the forest sector and heads of state agencies in the natural resource space, said the effective management of natural resources was pivotal to economic development and must be prioritised.

In that regard, they stressed the need for collective efforts to urgently deal with human activities that tampered with the integrity of the environment, particularly illegal mining.

The speakers were the Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Alhaji Yusif Sulemana; the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA), Prof. Nana Ama Browne Klutse; the CEO of the Forestry Commission, Dr Hugh Brown and the Programme Leader, Planet Development in charge of Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone at the World Bank, Naila Ahmed.

They spoke at the opening session of a three-day Ghana National Landscape Forum in Accra last Wednesday.

The forum was also used as a platform to launch and present the results of the Natural Capital Accounts (NCA), which was organised by the World Bank in collaboration with the ministries of Lands and Natural Resources; Environment, Science and Technology (MEST), the Forestry Commission and the EPA. 

Forum

The forum brought together development partners, experts in the natural resource space, technocrats from ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) in the natural resource sector and civil society organisations (CSOs).

It was held on the theme "Natural Resource Management and Forest Economy for Inclusive and Sustainable Growth" and focused on natural capital accounting.

Resource management

Alhaji Sulemana said the national landscape forum was a major move that would help to address the myriad environmental challenges confronting the country.

He said the government was committed to fighting galamsey through a five-pronged approach - reforming the licensing regime in the small-scale mining sector; strengthening law enforcement; enhancing stakeholder engagement; providing alternative livelihoods to affected communities, and restoring the destroyed landscape.

The deputy Lands and Natural Resources minister further stressed that the fight against galamsey remained a top priority of the government because it had a dire multiplier effect on almost all sectors.

"The devastation caused by galamsey is not just environmental, but a big blow to our food security and very survival and that is why we need to fight it with all our might," he stressed.

The Chief Director of MEST, Patrick Nimo, who delivered a speech on behalf of the minister of that sector, Dr Ibrahhim Murtala Mohammed, called for stronger collaboration between state and non-state actors to mainstream biodiversity and the NCA in the decision-making process.

He stressed that the government’s commitment to sustainable resource management would be critical in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Global Biodiversity Framework targets, Ghana’s Green Growth Agenda and the aspirations of the Africa We Want under the African Union Agenda 20263.
 

Protecting natural resources

The Programme Leader at the Planet Department in charge of Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone at the World Bank said the crucial role natural resources played in the sustainable development of countries was a wake-up call for collective efforts, involving all stakeholders to protect the environment for the future.

She added that given that the agriculture, forest and fishing sectors contributed a greater proportion of jobs in the country, it was important to take steps to address challenges to the natural environment, particularly land degradation, forest depletion and water pollution.

She said it was in that regard that the World Bank had committed to supporting the government's effort to reclaim the degraded landscape.

Also in his submission, Dr Brown said there were interrelationships between effective management of natural resources and sustainable development, which was why protecting forest resources was crucial.

He said it was worrying that in spite of the crucial role the forestry sector played in national development, including providing livelihoods to about 3.6 million people, illegal mining and other environmental crimes continue to destroy the forests.

He thus stressed the need for bold action, ranging from stringent law enforcement to effective reclamation programmes to address the challenge head on.